1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an uninterruptible power supply and, in particular, to an uninterruptible power supply, a battery assembly thereof, and a charging-discharging method thereof.
2. Related Art
In order to maintain continuous operation of server equipment, the server equipment nowadays is usually equipped with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). When the electrical power supplied to the server equipment is interrupted, the UPS provides a backup power supply to the server equipment.
The conventional UPS usually includes a host computer and a battery. The host computer is electrically connected to the main power source, the server equipment, and the battery. When the main power source is normal, the host computer distributes the power supplied from the main power source for operation of the server equipment and electrical charging of the battery. When the main power source is interrupted, the host computer conveys the electrical power stored in the battery to the server equipment for uninterrupted operation.
The conventional UPS battery is a lead-acid battery which has shortcomings such as being large and having a short lifespan. In order to overcome the shortcomings, a lithium battery can be used to replace the lead-acid battery, and plural lithium batteries can be disposed to increase the power capacity. However, the conventional lead-acid battery has a single standard voltage, so the circuit layout for electrical charging is simple, but the lithium battery can generate different voltages depending on the number of its cells. Therefore, different lithium batteries may be unsuitable for connecting the host computer. The conventional UPS battery has no mechanisms for charging or discharging in advance. Therefore, connecting an incompatible lithium battery may cause overcharging and therefore result in burning.
In view of the foregoing, the inventor made various studies to overcome the above-mentioned problems to realize the improvements, on the basis of which the present invention is accomplished.